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What’s a weird thing your In-Laws do?

772 replies

FirstFallopians · 16/01/2024 12:06

I was thinking there about how my BIL maintains that all families are a little bit weird to someone else.

Thought he was being flippant but then I remembered that my in-laws keep their family toothbrushes and toothpaste in a drawer in their bathroom. If you need a bit of floss after Sunday lunch you need to stick your hand into a sticky, damp mass of plastic and bristles.

What slightly weird things do your in-laws do?

OP posts:
LindorDoubleChoc · 16/01/2024 12:12

Is it limited only to inlaws? What about our own parents or siblings? Can they have odd little habits too?

WingingIt101 · 16/01/2024 12:13

I guess it's not super weird but it's just different to what I experienced.
For context my mum dad brother and I lived 2 hours from all our extended family. DH family all live within 15 mins of each other.
DH and I now live around 30 mins from my parents and 2.5hours from his - dictated by work.

His family always, without fail, attend all of each others birthdays and have a family party. Not just big birthdays. But little Freddie's 8th birthday, or auntie Paula's 44th. There's always a birthday tea and everyone is expected to go. We don't because it's too much of a journey and now with children it would be too much but we very much were pressured to in the early days!

WinterLobelia · 16/01/2024 12:18

My parents. (ILs are deceased). They smother my lovingly made creamy chicken and ham pie with sweet chilli sauce.

My mother also lives 10 minutes drive from her nasty older sister. She has all the curtains to the street closed at all times just in ^case her sister drops by unexpectedly. She'd done that my whole life (50 now). I grew up not realising the front room curtains even could^ be opened.

Alwaystired23 · 16/01/2024 12:21

WingingIt101 · 16/01/2024 12:13

I guess it's not super weird but it's just different to what I experienced.
For context my mum dad brother and I lived 2 hours from all our extended family. DH family all live within 15 mins of each other.
DH and I now live around 30 mins from my parents and 2.5hours from his - dictated by work.

His family always, without fail, attend all of each others birthdays and have a family party. Not just big birthdays. But little Freddie's 8th birthday, or auntie Paula's 44th. There's always a birthday tea and everyone is expected to go. We don't because it's too much of a journey and now with children it would be too much but we very much were pressured to in the early days!

My family are the same, doesn't matter if its your 9th or 41st, or 67th birthday l, we all get together (as in me, dh, dc, my parents, sister and BIL). It would have included grandparents and aunts when heu were alive.

WinterLobelia · 16/01/2024 12:21

something weird happened with my italics but i'm going to leave it!

DilemmaDelilah · 16/01/2024 12:22

Serving cabbage with stew. And by that I mean a delicious beef stew with at least 4 types of vegetable in it already and served with mash. I'm now just waiting for everyone to pile on to tell me that of COURSE you serve cabbage with stew....... (Also at the moment I'm having broccoli with stew because I'm not having potatoes/dumplings and I want to feel full!)

HeddaGarbled · 16/01/2024 12:22

They don’t have kitchen bins! Both MIL & SIL have a black plastic sack on the floor of their utility rooms for all their kitchen rubbish. Well off enough to have utility rooms but won’t spend money on a bin, the weirdos 😃

Chardonnay73 · 16/01/2024 12:26

Choosing, buying and even wrapping their own birthday and Xmas presents. Then transfer the money. Never ever get them a gift of something they haven’t asked for. It doesn’t go down well.

Royalsingingseal · 16/01/2024 12:29

Have tea breaks at set times at home. 10am and 3pm on the dot everything stops. Kettles on and whole packets of biscuits consumed.

CuttingMeOpenthenHealingMeFine · 16/01/2024 12:32

WingingIt101 · 16/01/2024 12:13

I guess it's not super weird but it's just different to what I experienced.
For context my mum dad brother and I lived 2 hours from all our extended family. DH family all live within 15 mins of each other.
DH and I now live around 30 mins from my parents and 2.5hours from his - dictated by work.

His family always, without fail, attend all of each others birthdays and have a family party. Not just big birthdays. But little Freddie's 8th birthday, or auntie Paula's 44th. There's always a birthday tea and everyone is expected to go. We don't because it's too much of a journey and now with children it would be too much but we very much were pressured to in the early days!

I actually think that’s lovely, I wouldn’t mind that a bit.

My in laws go to every funeral possible, for even the most tenuous of links to someone and they used to pressure DH to attend too - “remember old Jean who lived three streets away and said hello to you onc when you were a baby, her funeral is on Thursday you should be there and I realise CuttingMeOpen has never even met her but she should be there too”

Eh, no. We are not using annual leave to attend the funeral of someone who isn’t related or otherwise close. We have DC school holidays to keep our leave for.

They also become obsessed with restaurants and go on and on and on about how we should go. Like every time we speak to them it’s ‘have you been yet, you need to go’ if we say we have a day off coming up ‘oh well now you have time to go to X’ as if it is our main priority to go to this recommended place. On the odd occasion we have given in to keep them quiet they are almost always rubbish too.

My parents have so many weird and annoying things that I could be here all day writing about them.

GatherlyGal · 16/01/2024 12:32

Royalsingingseal · 16/01/2024 12:29

Have tea breaks at set times at home. 10am and 3pm on the dot everything stops. Kettles on and whole packets of biscuits consumed.

I LOVE this. Might try and introduce it.

autienotnaughty · 16/01/2024 12:33

Dh and fil brush their teeth bent forward over the sink mouth wide open so all the foam trickles down their arm. Totally gross

SomethingBlues · 16/01/2024 12:34

Alcoholism and abuse for my in laws 😒

mindutopia · 16/01/2024 12:37

My ILs are a bundle of dysfunction, but apart from the actual dysfunction, I can't actually think of anything I'd class a weird that they do, which has me a bit stumped really.

Let me tell you something weird my mum does though that freaks me out. I am NC with my mum now, but I'm sure she still does it. Whenever she goes anywhere away overnight, she preps however many days worth of food and snacks for my stepdad. Like literally every single item of food that he eats parcelled out into little pots for him. She'll pre-cook jackets and add the toppings, salads made, he gets several 'treat' days of takeaways, which she orders in advance, then puts into little pots for him, Tuesday is Chinese, Wednesday is pizza, oh for Friday, he might get KFC. He is a perfectly functional adult. He's retired now, but until recently he was working FT in hedge funds. He knows how to make a jacket or to order takeaway.

It sounds like it's because he's controlling and has these sort of trad wife expectations, but he doesn't. I'm not sure he even cares. But the thing is that I don't think he would ever eat anything she didn't package up for him. Like she sets the feeding schedule for the week and he sticks to it. When they used to visit us (before NC), she would fix all his plates for him. Then when he was done, he'd go around the table asking for people's leftovers, even while they were still eating. It was like he wouldn't get a second helping because she wouldn't dish it up for him, even when we all were helping ourselves. So he'd ask to eat so and so's roast potato or bit of gammon or whatever. It's weird. Neither of them are 'controlling' but they are dysfunctionally enmeshed in a weird way, so I think they must rely on each other to make food related decisions.

They'd also often order like two starters and a main when eating out, and then should share the food between them, dishing certain amounts to each others plates. That on it's own, maybe not weird, and seems cost efficient (they are literal millionnaires, so money is no object), but in the bigger picture of the weird food issues, it's just odd to me. It used to drive me bonkers. I wanted to scream, could you please just order food and eat like the rest of us!! Because every meal out would be this negotiation about what collective dishes they wanted and then having to explain it to the wait staff and ask for little side plates. Made me want to hide under the table sometimes.

Snowydaysfaraway · 16/01/2024 12:39

Mil repeatedly gave fil food poisoning with her cooking skills.. She refused to let him cook though.. Sunday lunch was veg put in a pressure cooker for at least 4 hours.. They also had set cuppa times.. 10 am and 3 pm.. Out came the home made cakes...
😬

GatherlyGal · 16/01/2024 12:41

My in-laws go on holiday to the same place at the same time every year and they stay in the same hotel in the same room and reserve the same table in the hotel restaurant.

I've been with DH for 26 years and this started before that.

Covid was the first time they didn't go.

Once, in around 2005 they hired a car. To quote FIL "never making that mistake again".

Waitingfordoggo · 16/01/2024 12:41

Mine think nothing of talking about bowels or poo at the dinner table. Don’t get me wrong, they don’t make a habit of this- it’s probably happened 2 or 3 times, but if it comes up in conversation, they will happily talk about it. I find this super weird and would expect the majority of people (Brits at any rate) to avoid talking about things like that while eating, but my DH thinks it’s normal. He thinks I’m weird for ‘being funny about it’.

They also stare- for example if there is a person with disabilities making unusual sounds or something like that, they’ll just openly stare. It’s like they don’t realise that they are visible 😂 I find this really embarrassing and desperately try to engage them in conversation to distract them.

They’re nice people overall but have got some strange/annoying quirks.

TinkerTiger · 16/01/2024 12:41

Totally missing the point of your post but I've never felt to need for a bit of floss after a meal, is this common?

Illpickthatup · 16/01/2024 12:45

Mines are dead. I first met DHs biological mum when I was 13 and she offered me a draw of her joint. I was horrified.

DH was raised by his gran who died when he was 10. His biological mother died before we reconnected 3 years ago so I've never had to deal with in-laws.

OctoblocksAssemble · 16/01/2024 12:46

They haven't done it for a while, but inlaws always used to turn up to visit with a bag from the supermarket. MIL would always bring a broccoli quiche, and BIL would arrive with a set of dips (but no crisps or anything to dip). Hasn't happened for a while, so maybe we are now trusted to have actually catered for their visits.

My parents have tea and coffee at 9pm. When I moved out I carried on for about a week before it occurred to me that I could change things up 😂

TheChosenTwo · 16/01/2024 12:48

At very set times during the day the world stops turning for either tea or coffee depending on the time.
We’ve been out together and all of a sudden they panic as it’s 7 minutes until coffee and there wasn’t a coffee shop nearby 😂
I love them dearly though so it’s forgivable but I just don’t drink tea or coffee so never need to factor this into my day!

MrsNandortheRelentless · 16/01/2024 12:49

They eat spam. Like, every single day, spam.

CreamOrJamFirst · 16/01/2024 12:53

oh no we have afternoon tea and elevenses as well. (But not at precisely set times if that helps).

odd think my IL do - you aren’t allowed to turn on the ceiling light (the why pray does it exist?). Everyone has a set seat at the table and even if someone is missing everyone still has to sit in their assigned seats.

TheNameIsDickDarlington · 16/01/2024 12:53

LindorDoubleChoc · 16/01/2024 12:12

Is it limited only to inlaws? What about our own parents or siblings? Can they have odd little habits too?

They can, but I suppose the point is that you'd be used to your own families quirks as you grew up with them.

AllTheShinyThings · 16/01/2024 12:54

Keeping a log of miles to the gallon for each car. All taken very seriously.

Collecting Clubcard points is like a religion.

But I love them and they’re amazing people! And my parents are far weirder.